Birthdays:
1975~ Heather O’Rourke (d. Feb. 1, 1988), American actress best known for her role in Poltergeist. She died at age 12 of cardiac arrest caused by septic shock due to a misdiagnosed intestinal stenosis.
1969~ Sarah Vowell (née Sarah Jane Vowell), American journalist and author.
1957~ Greg Mortenson, American humanitarian and author of Three Cups of Tea, which is about building schools for children in Pakistan. In 2011, he was accused of misappropriation of funds intended for the building of such schools.
1952~ Tova Feldshuh (née Teri Sue Feldshuh), American actress, best known for her portrayal of Golda Meir in Golda’s Balcony.
1952~ David Knopfler, Scottish musician and member of Dire Straits.
1951~ Ernesto Zedillo (né Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León), 54th President of Mexico. He served as President from December 1994 through November 2000.
1948~ Gérard Depardieu (né Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu), French actor.
1943~ Cokie Roberts (née Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborne Boggs Roberts), American journalist from New Orleans, Louisiana.
1942~ Thomas Menino (né Thomas Michael Menino; d. Oct. 30, 2014), 53rd Mayor of Boston. He served as Mayor from July 1993 until January 2014. He died of cancer at age 71.
1942~ Charmian Carr (née Charmian Anne Farnon, d. Sept. 17, 2016), American actress and designer best known for her role as Liesel von Trapp in the 1965 movie The Sound of Music. She died at age 73.
1939~ John Amos (né John Allen Amos, Jr.), African-American actor.
1930~ Wilfrid Sheed (né Wilfred John Joseph Sheed; d. Jan. 19, 2011), English-born American writer. He died 23 days after his 80th birthday from a kidney infection in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
1924~ Jean Bartik (née Betty Jean Jennings, d. Mar. 23, 2011), American computer programmer and mathematician. She was one of the first programmers for the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC). She died at age 86.
1922~ James L. Stone (né James Lamar Stone; d. Nov. 9, 2012), American soldier who fought in the Korean War and who had to wait for his rare honor. He earned the Medal of Honor in 1952 but rarely spoke of his wartime. He died at age 89.
1921~ Jan Leighton (né Milton Lichtman, d. Nov. 16, 2009), American actor who turned historical figures into pitchman. He died at age 87.
1921~ Robert Lipshutz (né Robert Jerome Lipshutz; d. Nov. 6, 2010), 17th White House Counsel. He served under President Jimmy Carter from January 1977 until October 1979. He died at age 88.
1917~ Buddy Boudreaux (né John Landry Boudreaux, d. June 13, 2015), American big band and jazz musician from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He was born in Donaldsonville, Louisiana. He was 97 years old.
1915~ William Masters (né William Howell Masters; d. Feb. 16, 2001), American gynecologist and pioneer in human sexuality, along with his wife Virginia E. Johnson (1925 ~ 2013). He died of Parkinson’s disease at age 85.
1906~ Oscar Levant (d. Aug. 14, 1972), American pianist, composer and actor. He died of a heart attack at age 65.
1901~ Marlene Dietrich (née Marie Magdalene Dietrich, d. May 6, 1992), German actress. She died at age 90.
1858~ Juan Luis Sanfuentes (d. July 16, 1930), President of Chile from December 1915 through December 1920. He died at age 71.
1822~ Louis Pasteur (d. Sept. 28, 1895), French microbiologist who made major contributions to medicine. He is best known for developing a process of using heat to kill germs, which is used today to preserve milk. This process is known as pasteurization. He died at age 78.
1571~ Johannes Kepler (d. Nov. 15, 1630), German astronomer and mathematician. He died at age 58.
Events that Changed the World:
2007~ Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto (1953 ~ 2007) was assassinated.
1989~ The Romanian Revolution ended.
1985~ Palestinian guerrillas killed 18 people in the Rome and Vienna airports.
1983~ Pope John Paul II (1920 ~ 2005) visited his would-be assassin, Mehmet Ali Ağca (b. 1958), in prison and forgave him for attack on his life in 1981.
1979~ The Soviet Union invaded the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.
1978~ Spain became a democracy after 40 years of dictatorship under Francisco Franco (1892 ~ 1975).
1973~ The United States Congress passed the Endangered Species Act.
1968~ Apollo 8 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean. This was the first orbital manned mission to the Moon.
1945~ Twenty-nine nations signed an agreement thereby creating the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
1939~ A massive earthquake struck in Erzincan, Turkey, killing over 32,000 people.
1935~ Regina Jones (1902 ~ 1944), was ordained as the first female rabbi. She later was murdered during the Holocaust.
1932~ Radio City Music Hall opened in New York City.
1927~ Show Boat, which is considered to be the first true American musical, opened at the Ziegfeld Theater on Broadway. The musical was still enjoying wide-spread productions in 2012. It is based on a book by Edna Ferber.
1845~ Ether anesthetic was used for the first time in childbirth by Dr. Crawford Williamson Long (1815 ~ 1878) in Jefferson, Georgia.
1831~ Charles Robert Darwin (1809 ~ 1882) began his journey on the HMS Beagle, during which he developed his theory of evolution.
1814~ The American schooner USS Carolina was destroyed during the War of 1812. This ship, which was the last surviving ship of the United States Naval Commodore David Patterson (1786 ~ 1839), had raided from Jean Lafitte at Barataria Bay, Louisiana. Due to Commodore Patterson’s delay tactics in moving his fleet to Mobile, the United States was ultimately able to claim a victory at the Battle of New Orleans.
1657~ The Flushing Remonstrance, which was a petition from members of the community in New Amsterdam, to Peter Stuyvesant (1610 ~ 1672), to request an exemption on his ban on Quaker worship. The document was the first documentation in American history to mark that the freedom of religion is a fundamental right.
1512~ The Spanish Crown issued the Laws of Burgos, governing the conduct of the Spaniards with regard to the Indigenous people of the Americas. The laws forbid the mistreatment of the Native people and endorsed their conversion to Catholicism.
537~ The Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey was completed. It initially served as the Greek Patriarchal cathedral of Constantinople. In 1261 it was converted to a Roman Catholic cathedral. In 1453, the building was turned into a mosque. In 1931, it was secularized and opened as a museum in 1935.
Good-Byes:
2016~ Carrie Fisher (née Carrie Frances Fisher; b. Oct. 21, 1956), American Star Wars princess who chronicled Hollywood’s excesses. She died of a massive heart attack at age 60. Her mother, Debbie Reynolds, died of a broken heart the following day.
2015~ Meadowlark Lemon (né Meadow Lemon, III, b. Apr. 25, 1932), American basketball player and team member of the Harlem Globetrotters. He died at age 83.
2015~ Stein Eriksen (b. Dec. 11, 1927), Norwegian Olympic champion who helped popularize skiing. He won gold medals in the 1952 Winter Olympics. He died just over 2 weeks after his 88th birthday.
2012~ Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr. (né Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr., b. Aug. 22, 1934), American general. He led the coalition forces during the Gulf War. He died of complications of pneumonia at age 78.
2007~ Benazir Bhutto (b. June 21, 1953), 11th Pakistani Prime Minister. She was assassinated in a bombing attack after leaving a political rally where she was attempting another campaign to become Pakistan’s prime minister. She was at 54 years old.
2004~ Donald L. Hollowell (né Donald Lee Hollowell; b. Dec. 19, 1917), African-American attorney and civil rights advocate. He was instrumental in the movement to desegregate public institutions in Georgia. He died of heart failure 8 days after his 87th birthday.
2001~ Helen Rodríguez Trías (b. July 7, 1929), American pediatrician, educator and woman’s rights activist. She was the first Hispanic president of the American Public Health Association. She died of cancer at age 72.
1999~ Geraldine Pittman Woods (née Geraldine Pittman; b. Jan. 29, 1921), African-American embryologist. She died a month before her 79th birthday.
1997~ Mary Celine Fasenmyer (b. Oct. 4, 1906), Catholic nun and mathematician. She was known as Sister Celine and was best known for her work in linear algebra. She died at age 91.
1995~ Boris Vladimirovich Gnedenko (b. Jan. 1, 1912), Russian mathematician. He died 4 days before his 83rd birthday.
1983~ William Demarest (né Carl William Demarest, b. Feb. 27, 1892), American character actor. He is best known for playing Uncle Charlie on My Three Sons. He died at of prostate cancer age 91.
1981~ Hoagy Carmichael (né Howard Hoagland Carmichael, b. Nov. 22, 1899), American singer-songwriter and composer. He died at age 82.
1974~ Amy Vanderbilt (née Amy Osborne Vanderbilt; b. July 22, 1908), American etiquette authority. She died at age 66 from injuries sustained from a fall from a window. It is not clear whether or not the fall was accidental or a suicide.
1974~ Vladimir Fock (b. Dec. 22, 1898), Russian mathematician. He died 5 days after his 76th birthday.
1972~ Lester B. Pearson (néLester Bowles Pearson; b. Apr. 23, 1897), 14th Prime Minister of Canada and recipient of the 1957 Nobel Peace Prize for organizing the United Nations Emergency Force to resolve the Suez Canal Crisis. He served as Prime Minister from April 1963 until April 1968. He died of cancer at age 75.
1952~ Mary Engel Pennington (b. Oct. 8, 1872), American bacteriological chemist and refrigeration engineer. In 1895, she earned her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. She died at age 80.
1950~ Max Beckmann (b. Feb. 12, 1884), German painter and sculptor. He died at age 66.
1944~ Amy Beach (née Amy Marcy Cheney, b. Sept. 5, 1867), American pianist and composer. She was the first American woman composer to achieve success with large-scale art music. She was from Henniker, New Hampshire. She died at age 77.
1930~ Gyula Farkas (b. Mar. 28, 1847), Hungarian mathematician. He died at age 83.
1923~ Gustave Eiffel (né Alexandre Gustave Bönickhausen dit Eiffel; b. Dec. 15, 1832), French engineer and architect and designer of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. He died 12 days after his 91st birthday.
1836~ Stephen Austin (né Stephen Fuller Austin; b. Nov. 3, 1793), American frontiersman in Texas. He is sometimes referred to as the Father of Texas. Austin, Texas is named in his honor. He died of pneumonia at age 43.
1834~ Charles Lamb (b. Feb. 10, 1775), English essayist. He died at age 59.
1381~ Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March (b. Feb. 1, 1352), English politician. He married Philippa Plantagenet, which ultimately gave rise to the claim of the House of York, contested in the War of the Roses. He died at age 29.
1087~ Bertha of Savoy (b. Sept. 21, 1051), Empress consort of the Holy Roman Empire. She was the wife of Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor. She died at age 36.
683~ Gao Zong (b. July 21, 628), Chinese emperor of the Tang Dynasty. He was Emperor from July 649 until his death in December 683. He died at age 55.
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